RWANDA CONTRIBUTION TO THE CWG-COP
CYBER BULLING
1.0. Introduction
Cyberbullying has been defined as “the use of Internet or other digital technologies to harm or harass other people in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner by sending or posting harmful materials.”
Sexting has been defined as “youth writing sexually explicit messages, taking sexually explicit photos of themselves or others in their peer group, and transmitting those photos and/or messages to their peers.” Social Network Sites (SNS) are one environment in which this can happen.
Information technologies are being misused to commit crimes, such as (a) child exploitation; (b) production, distribution, and possession of child pornography; (c) exposure to harmful content; (d) grooming, harassment, and sexual abuse; and (e) cyber bullying and sexting. Offenders use false identities in chat rooms to lure victims into physical meetings, thus connecting the worlds of cyber and physical crime. When this happens, virtual crime often leads to traditional forms of child abuse and exploitation such as trafficking and sex tourism. Cyber bullying, which is common in many countries, is a dangerous vice, which may result in suicide, especially among children. We must condemn it and it is unkind to insult, intimidate, harass or cause emotional distress.
2.0. Rwanda context in terms of policy, legal and regulatory framework
2.1. Legal and regulatory framework
Like many countries across the world, Rwanda is not immune from cyber-related offences committed against children. Given the current level of Internet usage in Rwanda, children are not barred from accessing internet, especially in cybercafés or from smart phones. To date, the existing N° 01/2012/OL of 02/05/2012 Organic Law instituting the penal code in Rwanda envisages prohibition of child pornography, where Article 230 provides that “any person who displays, sells, rents, disseminates or distributes pornographic pictures, objects, movies, photos, slides and other pornographic materials involving children shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of more than five (5) years to seven (7) years and a fine of five million (5,000,000) to twenty million (20,000,000) Rwandan francs.”
Article 276 of the Penal Code stipulates that any person who defames or harasses another person on the basis of sex with intent to humiliate him/her or his/her work shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of at least two (2) months but less than six (6) months and a fine of two hundred thousand (200,000) to five hundred thousand (500,000) Rwandan francs or one of these penalties.
Article 288 on Defamation in public states that “ Any person who, maliciously and publicly, commits a specific act against another person which is likely to damage the honor or dignity , or bring him/her to public contempt shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of six (6) months to one (1) year and a fine of one million (1,000,000) to five million (5,000,000) Rwandan francs or one of these penalties”.
Article 206 of the Law N°24/2016 of 18/06/2016 governing Information and communication technology in Rwanda on Publishing indecent information in electronic form states that “ Any person, knowingly or willfully, publishes, transmits or causes to be published in electronic form, any indecent information commits an offence punishable in accordance with provisions of the Penal Code”.
2.2. Policy and institutional framework
There is not much in terms of cyber bullying cases but so far, the Government of Rwanda has made some progress in putting in place cyber security framework.
The Cabinetapproved the National Cyber Security Policy, on 20th March 2015, aimed at protecting public and private infrastructure from cyber attacks and to safeguard personal information of web users, financial/banking information and sovereign data. http://www.myict.gov.rw/fileadmin/Documents/National_Cyber_Security_Policy/NCSP_Implementation_Plan.pdf).
The policy aims at building an environment that will build trust and confidence when people use ICT. It will ensure that we have tools and means to protect our interests, and also ably collaborate with other countries because the threat is global.”
The policy paves way to build the legal frameworks; Government will also set up an agency fully dedicated to fight these internet-based criminal acts.
The compute Security Incidence Response Team (CSIRT) monitors and reports hi-tech crime including cyber terrorism, computer intrusion, online sexual exploitation and cyber fraud. The team also coordinates all other multi-sectoral agencies in this fight against cyber crime; liaises with other law enforcement agencies in the prosecution of cyber related crimes and collaborates with other regional and international agencies with similar functions.
The Rwanda National Police has set up a Cybercrime and Digital Forensics unit, which provides anti-cybercrime trainings with the help of Interpol to equip the police with skills to detect and investigate cybercrime, understand cyber terrorism, principles of evidence collection for cybercrime, electronic money transfer technology, and basic ICT tools in analysing cybercrime evidence. The Rwanda National Police has also established a child help hotline “116” to handle all issues related to Children.
The Government of Rwanda organized a workshop, on 16th July, 2015, at Kigali, Serena Hotel, in collaboration with the National Commission for Children (NCC), Facebook, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Millicom and GSMA to strategize ways to ensure childonline protection in Rwanda. The workshop decided to carry out a country-specific research to inform next steps to take the work forward and create a national plan for Child online protection.
The Government of Rwanda is also developing child online protection. The policy goal is to set out a vision and, based on agreed principles, formulate strategic objectives and actions aiming at not only protecting children, but also empowering children and young people to become more resilient to online threats and to derive economic and social benefits from a vibrant and secure cyberspace.
2.3. Cyber bulling cases in Rwanda
There are some cases related to impersonation. The impersonators allegedly create fake facebook accounts and con some people and successfully collected money from some with promises of attending to their issues expeditiously. Some people have tried to have a Facebook account operating in their names closed but their efforts had been unsuccessful because the impersonators have control of credentials and the victim is not able to enter into the newly created account.
There are some cases where people are harassed through electronic media such as electronic websites. They are able to lodge their complaints to the Rwanda Media Commission if the offenders are licensed media outlets whereas harassments done through social media are handled by the Rwanda National Police. However, there some cases where the electronic websites are hosted outside the country and the owners might be the foreigners. In that case, it is difficult to handle the case because the electronic media is outside the country. Hence, there is a need of the international cooperation to handle trans-boundary crimes.
There are some cases where photos that had privately taken on the phone are stolen and uploaded on the internet. Then the bullying starts and some people accuse the victim. There are even some people who insult others through social media networks and reveal the privacy of their friends.
3.0. Recommendations and way forward
3.1. To put in place the child online protection/safety policy and strategy and clear institutional framework.
3.2. To assess existing legislation adapting them to existing and emerging threats and make sure that adequate skills and capabilities are available to handle the threats.
3.3. To involve ISPs and other stakeholders in handling detected cases.
3.4. To establish mechanisms for continuous awareness for Children, Parents and Educators for efficient child online protection.
3.5. To identify child sexual abuse material disseminated through various online channels, notify and takedown this material. Actions in this area must comply with laws in force on combating child sexual abuse, pornography, cyber bulling and sexting.
3.6. Promote National and International Cooperation in the field of COP in order to handle trans-boundary cases.
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